Joe Biden bans new oil and gas drilling along most US coasts ahead of Trump's term
President Joe Biden on Monday announced an executive action that will permanently ban future offshore oil and gas development in parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in a way that could be especially difficult for the incoming Trump administration to undo.
FollowUS President Joe Biden on Monday announced what he called a permanent stop to new oil and gas drilling across more than 625 million acres of US coastal waters, saying he was making the move because drilling posed unnecessary risks to the environment, public health and the coastal communities’ economies.
Biden’s executive action that will permanently ban future offshore oil could be especially difficult for the incoming Trump administration to undo. The ban will prevent oil companies from leasing waters for new drilling along the entire East Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea.
“My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” Biden said in a statement, CNN reported. “It is not worth the risks.”
The action invokes the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, a law that gives presidents broad authority to withdraw federal waters from future oil and gas leasing and development.
As Biden’s presidency draws to a close, environmental and climate groups have advocated for him to withdraw areas off the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as other parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans — giving the areas permanent protections from future drilling. The move would guard against future oil spills and add more planet-warming pollution from fossil fuels to the atmosphere.
“President Biden’s new protections add to this bipartisan history, including President Trump’s previous withdrawals in the southeastern United States in 2020,” said Oceana Campaign Director Joseph Gordon in a statement. “Our treasured coastal communities are now safeguarded for future generations.”
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